Archive for the ‘Hawaii’ tag

Unable to get their anti-corn ethanol legislation included as a rider on an unrelated bill earlier this year, two U.S. senators have now re-introduced it as a standalone bill aimed at rolling back portions of the Renewable Fuel Standard, joining at least four other pieces of legislation on the federal and state levels aimed at reducing the amount of corn-based ethanol in modern fuel blends.

Retaining the same name and much of the same wording as the earlier piece of legislation – the Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2015, which failed to make its way into the Keystone XL Pipeline Act – senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania introduced the bill (S.577) last week, calling for a modification of the Renewable Fuel Standard to promote other biofuels, including biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol, over corn-based ethanol.

“Our infrastructure has a ceiling for the amount of corn ethanol that can be used, and we’re rapidly approaching it,” Feinstein wrote in a press release announcing the legislation. “Companies are physically unable to blend more corn ethanol into gasoline without causing problems for many gas stations and older automobiles.”

Opponents of the legislation, including the Renewable Fuel Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and the Advanced Ethanol Council, have characterized it as “an attack on the Renewable Fuel Standard” and have called for the EPA to increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline despite the EPA’s acknowledgement of the ethanol blend wall.

Both Feinstein/Toomey and their opponents do seem to agree that it’s worth investing in other forms of cellulosic ethanol – that is, ethanol made from switchgrass and other non-food plant materials.

Meanwhile, Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia last month introduced the RFS Reform Act of 2015 (H.R.704), which proposes a number of changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard, among them a 10 percent cap on the amount of ethanol added to gasoline. Goodlatte had introduced similar legislation in 2013.

On the state level, legislators in Pennsylvania (H.B. 471), Oregon (H.B.2373), and Hawaii (S.B.717) have introduced bills aimed at eliminating altogether those states’ requirements that all gasoline sold there contain at least 10 percent ethanol. All three bills have since been referred to committees. The SEMA Action Network, which monitors legislative issues for the collector-car hobby, backsallthree state-level bills.

Going through old bookmarks, I came across this found photo from Shorpy that apparently shows the town of Kaunakakai on the island of Moloka’i in Hawaii—specifically Ala Malama Avenue looking north, as the commenters pointed out—sometime in 1962. Looks rather peaceful. Given the added logistics of shipping and maintaining a car in Hawaii, particularly in a smaller and more remote location like this one, we have to imagine the cars were treated much differently than on the mainland, and perhaps we see some clues toward that in this photo. What do you see here?

Those of us living in the continental United States may not associate Hawaii with motorsports, but opportunities to turn a wheel in anger exist on several of the islands that make up the state of Hawaii. Maui and Hawaii, for example, have active kart racing communities, while drag racers can find tracks on Kauai, Oahu and Hawaii. What’s missing from the big island is a dedicated motorsports park, but the renewed efforts of the Hawai’i Racing Association (HRA) may soon change that.

A recent questionnaire sent to members of the HRA asked what kind of facilities would be desired in a future Kona Motorsport Park, to be located on the island of Hawaii, adjacent to the Kona International Airport property. Potential choices include a quarter-mile drag strip; a two-mile paved road course; kart tracks (in multiple configurations); a drift course; motocross tracks; an off-road vehicle course and even a quarter-mile dirt oval. Those are hardly the only possibilities, as the questionnaire also invites participants to pencil in a motorsport venue of their own choosing.

Per HRA president (and Hawaii Motor Beat publisher) Paul Maddox, the improving economy on the island, coupled with the current mayoral administration’s potential backing of the proposed project, means that the time is right to proceed with plans for the 200-acre-plus park. Step one will be defining what activities the park will support, which may also determine its ultimate location. Next, the county government needs to be convinced that dedicating land to such a venue is in the island’s best interests, which is why the HRA is seeking support of both locals and potential big island tourists.

Once these goals have been met, an environmental impact study needs to be completed, at an estimated cost of $500,000. Assuming the site’s approval following this, donations of material, labor and equipment will be sought to begin construction, starting with the venue’s proposed drag strip, parking areas and off-road trails. Concessionaires will be solicited for construction of more elaborate facilities, such as the proposed two-mile road course. Maddox said he sees huge potential for a big-name driving school, which would benefit from the island’s appeal among affluent foreign tourists and the facility’s close proximity to Kohala Coast resorts.

The HRA’s efforts to establish a multipurpose motorsport facility in West Hawaii date to 1994, and initially centered on obtaining 600 acres of land adjacent to the island’s landfill. In the year’s since, the HRA’s focus has shifted to winning both political and popular support for the proposed Kona Motorsport Park, which would be constructed with funding from HRA members, private concessionaires and local businesses, sure to benefit from the added traffic. Like the Hilo Dragstrip complex, the Kona Motorsport Park would be run as a county park, staffed for larger events by volunteers.

Ben Merkel, who I’m sureyou’re all familiarwith by now, found himself in Hawaii in 1985, courtesy a travel agency he owned at the time. Sweet, he thought, beautiful scenery, beautiful girls, and me with a camera. Alas, he brought his fiancee (as anybody probably should when offered a trip to Hawaii and engaged), and she forbade him from aiming his camera anywhere near bikinis, coconut shells or the combination of two X chromosomes.

So I took pictures of the Stageways since it was safe. Armbruster-Stageway had over 1,000 of their products on the road there and I saw tons of them. No Checker Aerobusses, however. How weird is that?

He recently dug the photos up to share with us, though sans captions, so we’re going to break out the late-model spotter’s guides and see if we can identify what behemoths Armbruster stretched here.

Appears to be the rear view of the car in the lead photo, and appears to be a 1974 Pontiac Catalina with a custom grille

Another Pontiac, this time a 1972 Catalina

Something about those taillamps wants me to say late-1970s Electra, but I’m not sure that’s right